After Maine?

November 6, 2009 at 1:04 pm

Dear Friends of Marriage,

The National Organization for Marriage has again, because of your support and work, played a key role in changing the course of history on marriage. As the largest contributor to the Yes on 1 effort in Maine, NOM spent almost all that it had (literally!), a total of $1.8 million dollars, because we knew the singular importance of a victory in Maine.

How important was Maine's vote? Consider these facts:

National gay marriage groups saw Maine as their opportunity to, in their words, "break" the growing national movement to protect marriage. Winning at the ballot box would have shifted the momentum in their direction after our victory in Proposition 8. They made Maine their rallying cry, and truly believed that they were going to win.

Maine gay marriage groups spent four years building a sophisticated grassroots organization unlike anything that we have seen. In a state with a population of only 1.3 million, No on 1 had 8,000 (yes 8,000!) volunteers in the field knocking on tens of thousands of doors and making hundreds of thousands of phone calls.

Maine is a deep blue New England state. At the same time Maine voters rejected same-sex marriage, they approved extending the legalization of marijuana by a 59%-41% margin, and rejected a tax-limiting scheme 60% to 40%.

We were grossly outspent by nearly two to one.

Yet we won in Maine by an even larger margin than we won in California.

This is obviously because of your prayers, dedication, and hard work. But it also is because of the team that NOM has built to go into any state and make the arguments and run the campaign to win. Frank Schubert and Jeff Flint of Schubert Flint Public Affairs are the best in the business, and successfully guided both California's Proposition 8 and Question 1 in Maine to success. Anyone who has seen the ads they have produced knows the power of highlighting the consequences of same-sex marriage to voters.

And that's why I'm writing to you today. NOM has broken the bank in supporting the Stand for Marriage Maine effort. In fact, we only have two months' operating budget in the bank right now. NOM's overall contribution to Stand for Marriage Maine of $1.8 million dollars is just a staggering sum to give out of our general treasury account. This year we have grown significantly, but our projected budget of $8 million dollars pales in comparison to our opponents' deep pockets--last year the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) alone had a whopping budget of more than $41 million dollars.

And yet, as an indication of how far we have leveraged ourselves, HRC, with more than 5 times NOM's budget, is reported to have given only $145,000 to support gay marriage in Maine.

If I was an HRC donor I would be screaming to high heaven right now!

This is the difference between our operation and theirs. We are not going to build a bloated bureaucracy with your money. We're going to win with it. It's that simple. This is what Frank Schubert has to say about our efforts:

"I believe that NOM is the most effective national advocacy group in the nation. They are swift, nimble, completely mission focused and extremely effective. There is no bureaucracy with NOM. Whenever we needed help in Maine, one call to Maggie, Brian or Robby George was all it took to get an answer - which was almost always 'yes.' We would have lost in Maine if it weren't for NOM. It's as simple as that."

But we need your help now more than ever. It comes down to this:

Same-sex marriage is likely coming up for a vote in New York and New Jersey in the next month. We do not now have the resources to stop it. We've proven we have the team to win, but we don't have the money.

I'm also asking you to send this message to as many of your friends as possible. Right now. We can't wait to extend the victory in Maine to other states. The fight is upon us and we promise you that we will use your contribution in the most effective way to win. You can count on that!

I'm also asking you to send this message to as many of your friends as possible. Right now. We can't wait to extend the victory in Maine to other states. The fight is upon us and we promise you that we will use your contribution in the most effective way to win. You can count on that!